Queens' Big Apple

Apple Store Opening This Weekend in Queens Center Mall

I've seen this reported on a couple of business news sites, including New York Business Journal, which says it will open there this Saturday. So this would be much, much earlier than initial reports a few months ago reported.

Apple Store Coming to Queens Center Mall

It marks Apple's first store in Queens, and the company reportedly says it will be the biggest store in a New York mall...

The news was reported today on the 9to5Mac blog:

First Apple Store coming to Queens as new Brooklyn & Manhattan stores running behind

The first Apple Store for Queens will be located in the Queens Center Mall on the second floor. One source says this store will be the largest Apple retail outlet located in a New York mall to date, and Apple is expecting revenues for this store to even beat out some of its flagship counterparts located elsewhere in the state. The store is under construction and is expected to open later in 2015, but an official announcement may come sooner…

FoHi Not Immune to iPhone 5 Lines

Some scenes from Friday at stores in our nabe...

The Apple iPhone Patent Case

This makes me so incredibly happy!

From the NY Times:
Jury Awards $1 Billion to Apple in Samsung Patent Case
The jury found that Samsung infringed upon a series of Apple patents on mobile devices, in a closely watched court case that could have broad implications for the industry.

I despise, DESPISE, copycats! I HATE IT when companies, people, whomever, just blatantly rip off someone else's idea. For years now, every time someone took out their Android phone and showed it to me, saying, "Look! It's so much better than the iPhone!!! Isn't it great??" I always thought to myself, "It's a freakin' illegal copy you moron! Don't you have any respect for ingenuity???"
Steve Jobs said that Android was "a stolen product." I hope he's resting easier tonight.

Apple Store Of My Eye

Over the weekend I went to take a look at the former Mandee store on Austin because someone on the Facebook page was wondering what they're doing there. There is some construction going on, but lord knows what is being done. There were no clues from looking at it.

And then I turned around and right in front of my face I realized is the absolutely perfect building in Forest Hills for the much-rumored Apple Store....
Enough space? Check. More than enough.
Perfect location? Check.
Cool, urban-chic architecture? Check...

What more could they ask for?!

Austin to get Apple Store?

Hmmmm, so it appears all those rumblings about an Apple store coming to Forest Hills have been true after all.... Need I say this is beyond exciting?

From The Daily News:
Queens aims for Apple core 
Developer angling for iconic store in Forest Hills

Could this be the location? I think this used to be Mandee, down at 7000 Austin. And I think it's still empty, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Rest In Peace Steve

Maybe you're one of those people who is waking up this morning and thinking, "Hmmm, Steve Jobs.. I really don't know what the fuss is all about." Then, try this little experiment. Think of the different products Apple has come out with and then try to guess the year when they came out. For instance, the iPhone. What year did the first iPhone come out? Take a guess if you don't already know. And then Google the answer. I bet you'll be amazed at how recently it actually was.

And that serves to show just how transformational the products from Steve Jobs and Apple have been in the past decade. Today it is hard to remember what life was like without them.

By the way, here's one example. The iPhone. It first came out on June 29, 2007.

Steve Jobs Steps Down

I am exceedingly sad about the news thats Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple. It's almost like saying goodbye to a parent or good friend. I spent a big part of my childhood as a mild computer geek, breathlessly following the next personal computer innovations.

I won't go into all the details, but there is a very long, wonderful history about Steve Jobs versus Bill Gates and how their rivalry helped shape personal computing today. One of my earliest computers was an Apple, a Mac Plus. And I remember the day when Windows (I think it was 3.0) came out for the PC. I was in the CompUSA at Roosevelt Field on Long Island and saw all the boxes of Windows piled up to the ceiling. And I remember thinking to myself, "What is all the fuss about? Windows just copies what my Mac has been able to do for years!" 

It left me realizing that in this world things can end up quite backwards sometimes. The good guy doesn't always win. The real innovator - Steve Jobs - saw his share of the computing market vastly overtaken by laughably inferior Windows-based computers.

But what was really amazing is that the story didn't end there. Jobs returned to Apple and made it the amazing success that it is today. 

But I guess what I most think of when I think of Jobs is optimism. So many people in this world seem to go through their lives so negative about just about everything. All they do is complain, constantly complain, about what is wrong with this or that. Jobs is one of those rare individuals -- thank you God for them!! -- who never complained. He envisioned. He created. He did. And he gave all of our lives a whole new dimension as a result of it.

Huh?

Ok, I've spent a heck of a lot of time in Grand Central, as I'm sure most of you have. Now, am I crazy, but how in the world can Apple open its biggest store in the world there?

Confirmed: Apple To Build Biggest Store Yet In Grand Central Terminal

I especially like the part of the article that says Apple may have to take down walls of Grand Central to fit its biggest store in there. Jackie O must be rolling over in her grave! Of course, they can't take down walls of Grand Central! It's a protected historic structure. But leave it to a technology blog to not have the slightest idea what "protected historic structure" means!

I kid the technology blog (not really).

Supposedly, they say, Apple wants to open a store in Grand Central to alleviate the crowding at its Fifth Avenue store. Now, that I can believe.